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Saturday, February 16, 2008

Charlotte Avenue blogger Chris relates the story of the Rite Aid pharmacy company's less than neighborhood-friendly proposal to replace a historic church building with one of their generic set-back stores that attract more vehicular than pedestrian traffic. He ponders:

[W]hy not make it the "perfect" first step Rite Aid? We are in the middle of planning for progress on Charlotte that hopes to achieve just such a walkable community. Why would you design a building that deters that lifestyle and only encourages more automobile focused development?

Despite the rhetorical nature of Chris's question, I'm going to add a guess that box stores don't work with neighborhoods because greater wealth often engenders less willingness to risk being sensitive to local communities. If Rite Aid officials lived in the neighborhood, they would be more sensitive to their neighbors' concerns. Also, Rite Aid is so corporate and detached that they do not have to work with the local neighborhood. For them it is just a matter of lobbying a critical number of Council Members who are prone toward high-growth development.

Chris encourages local consumers who want Rite Aid to do the right thing to contact their Board of Directors: contacttheboard@riteaid.com. Making this a pocketbook issue for the company could save Sylvan Park residents a grueling fight in Metro Council in the future.